February 15, 2024

Inspired by Wisconsin

THE MEAL

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We have “America’s Dairyland” to thank for a lot of our favorite American foods—Oscar Mayer weiners, Johnsonville brats, Kraft cheese, Tombstone pizza, Culver’s, and more! Wisconsin produces a quarter of America’s dairy products, and a lot of the population has German and Scandinavian heritage, so the cuisine coming from that area is very rich and delicious. I used SO MUCH BUTTER making this meal.

(GINGER) BEER BRATS

First up, we have beer brats. Bratwursts likely originated in Germany and are found throughout the world and the United States, but they’re VERY popular in Wisconsin. They sometimes sell more brats than hot dogs in their sports venues!

And the thing that makes Wisconsin bratwursts distinctive is the way they’re prepared—boiled with cheap beer and onions prior to being grilled.

I’ve had lots of bratwursts in my lifetime (my family is of German descent) but I don’t drink beer, and I didn’t even want to try using non-alcoholic beer because I can’t stand the smell. But I saw that some people online substituted ginger beer successfully, so I went with that option. It was my first time trying ginger beer, and it was STRONG. Not sure if it was just the brand I used or if all ginger beer is way more potent than ginger ale. In any case, I was worried that my brats would turn out tasting overwhelmingly of ginger.

In the end, though, after grilling them up on my new stovetop grill pan, the bratwursts just tasted like bratwursts… Most of the ginger beer flavor came from the onions being simmered in it. It was all delicious, don’t get me wrong, I’m just not sure if I would bother with the boiling step next time. Grilling them plain is good enough for me!

FRIED CHEESE CURDS

Cheese is Wisconsin’s state dairy product. You have to be supervised by a licensed cheesemaker to produce cheese in Wisconsin—something no other states require. The most common cheeses produced there are mozzarella and cheddar. When making aged cheddar cheese, part of the process results in salted curds, which dairy producers soon realized were tasty on their own and made nice bite-sized snacks. In Wisconsin, they’re commonly battered and fried.

I don’t usually like eating cheese on its own, but I do enjoy cheese curds, even better fried. I’ve failed to make mozzarella sticks in the past before, though, so I was really worried about these not working out.

I was pleasantly surprised with this recipe! You just cover the curds in flour, then dredge in beaten egg, then coat in bread crumbs. Freeze them for about an hour, then fry in oil for literally under a minute! They turn a beautiful golden brown in no time flat, and they’re such a tasty snack, especially the Wisconsin way dipped in ranch dressing!

It was kind of a time-consuming process, and you do have to be very careful to evenly coat each curd or else the cheese will melt out, but I could definitely seeing myself making these again if I ever had an abundance of cheese curds on hand!

ALMOND KRINGLE

Kringle is the official state pastry of Wisconsin, again brought to the area by German and Scandinavian immigrants. It’s considered more of a breakfast food than a dessert, kind of like donuts or Pop Tarts, but with even less sugar. But I was raised in a strictly no-pastries-for-breakfast kind of family, so I’m counting this as a dessert.

This is one state-inspired food that I definitely want to try again sometime. I’m not super happy with it. There are a few different ways to make kringle, and I went with the method that has a pie-crust bottom layer and a choux-pastry top layer. I’m very happy with how both pastry layers turned out, but I played it kind of fast and loose with the arrangement. Instead of piping the choux pastry all squiggly like I did, I should’ve spread it evenly on top of the pie crust, all the way to the edges, to make it look like a single pastry. Also, my butter wasn’t soft enough in the icing, so it split and wasn’t thick enough.

So ignore what it looks like and let me tell you how yummy it tasted instead. 🙂 This pastry is really great! I was surprised to learn that there’s no sugar in it aside from the icing on top, so it really isn’t overwhelmingly sweet. If you’ve made pie crusts before, the most difficult part is arranging it into an oval shape. But making choux pastry is simple, and it baking it on top of the pie crust makes the pastry light and bubbly, but with more of a custardy middle than you’d get from choux pastry on its own. The almond flavor really came through.

A lot of kringles use laminated pastry doughs and fillings, and they come in a wide variety of flavors, so I’m determined to try this one again. It’s definitely worth trying yourself if you want to take a shot at a unique new pastry. Just don’t necessarily go with the method that I used here. 😉